In the Cards
by VintageLookingGlass
Summary: Life often deals us cards that we don't understand, Vanessa Thomas learned that the hard way. Almost two years after helping the BAU with a witness, bodies began to pop up around her University and becomes the center of an investigation involving an escaped serial killer, who has his eyes on her solely. Sometimes, the past can't stay dead, especially when it involves family. ReidOc
1. Prologue

**Prologue:**

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><p><em>March 7, 2009; 11:34 pm<em>

The sound of footsteps echoed loudly throughout the deserted parking garage. Each set resounded and bounced back against the cement and concrete walls as the small trio reached their destination- a grey, old model vehicle that seemed to be the definition of "non-conspicuous" – the only give away to the vehicle being a key element of protected escape was the tinted windows.

The oldest of the trio led the to the door of the car, opening it for youngest - a young woman of 20 years with warm, dark chocolate brown layered hair pulled into a low messy bun and stunning jade green eyes which flashed with a mixed emotions. She was dressed in a simple tee and skinny jeans with a pair of well-worn Converses on her feet, as well as a backpack slung over one shoulder. The girl got into the car giving the oldest a mumbled thank you as she slid to the other side of the backseat, behind the passenger seat.

The older turned to the third member of the party, holding him back from getting into the car with the girl. "I'll text you you're set to depart. Be vigilant, he may be expecting this from us."

"Yeah, I already figured. We'll take more complicated routes then head out of town through the back roads. The safe-house is far from his comfort zone, I don't think he'll check there."

"Alright. Be careful," the younger of the two men was about to get into the when the oldest called out once again. "Reid," the younger of the two men looked up. SSA Dr. Spencer Reid's eyes caught that of his unit chief, Aaron Hotchner, as he continued, "Keep Nessa calm."

Dr. Reid gave a small nod as he continued to settle himself in the backseat next to the college junior. Agent Hotchner made his way around the car to the back passenger side window, which was lowered for the time being. "Nessa," started the agent. The said woman turned to the FBI agent, her green eyes finding the brown of Hotch's, which, despite the chaos of the moment, held an almost warm and reassuring look in contrast to the seriousness that seemed embedded in his face in the form of lines. He continued, "You'll be departing as soon as I give Reid the word. We'll get you to the safe house as fast as possible…," his gaze slightly intensified as he spoke added, "We're going to get him."

Nessa's eyes sharpened a bit with determination as she nodded. "Hotch? Promise me something…"

"Vanessa, I really can't-."

"I know, but-" she let out a breath she didn't realize until then, "Just make sure the others get to the safehouse safely."

Hotch looked at the girl a moment. At that very moment, he saw _it_. He saw the very emotion, the very determination that her father displayed on a regular bases while he was still his colleague. Yet with Nessa there was a much gentler edge, despite the obstacles that she had overcome and the hurdles that are up ahead, she still held a sort of innocence or kindness, something that her father rarely showed in the workplace. It was in that moment that he saw the same eyes despite their color, but he also saw how truly different she was from her father.

Hotch's attention returned to her plead. He gave her a small reassuring smile. "They're in good hands. We'll stop at nothing to keep them, and you, safe."

Nessa retuned the smile, her shoulders relaxing as she felt lighter just with that bit of reassurance.

"Thank you." Hotch nodded. He turned towards the young doctor beside her who gave his boss a nod.

_'I'll take care of her.'_

"Wait for my word Reid. The two of you…" He looked between the two, "Be careful." And with that, Aaron Hotchner left the parking garage, getting into a black SUV which held Prentiss, Mark, and himself.

Both Reid and Nessa waited until the Unit Chief was out of slight to roll up their windows. The officer driving them was currently as still as stone, almost unmoving if it weren't for the occasional twitch of the hand or shoulder rolling. It was within those silent and tense minutes, everything seemed to be warped for Nessa, almost surreal. Time ticked, but what seemed like hours, like a lifetime, really was a few passing minutes just sitting in the backseat of the car. She began to drum her fingers against her lap, a nervous habit she had developed from playing piano- she had unconsciously began playing a random piece and her fingers moved accordingly to the notes while her lap served as a makeshift piano.

At the moment, she was doing an incredibly fast paced version of Ode to Joy, that was until another, larger hand slipped into her left, fingers interlacing with her own, completely halting her movement. Within a faction of a second, she griped the comforting hand back in response and brought her right to caress the back of the hand as a way to gain some reassurance. She looked down at her lap from the window, a small, comforted smile finding its place on her lips. When she looked up she found Spencer's hazel eyes with her own jade ones, he's eyes giving off a sense of comfort but which still held a bit for seriousness and slight worry.

He gave her hand a small squeeze, letting his thumb run along the back of her smooth skin. He broke from her gaze and speared a glance the officer behind the wheel, who was currently looking out of his window at the plain concrete walls of the parking garage. Taking the distraction, Spencer leaned forward with a bit of hesitance, giving Nessa a reassuring, loving kiss on her forehead.

Nessa let out a breath as he moved back, and then moved to place her own chaste kiss on the young doctor's lips. A slight coloring appeared in Reid's cheeks, but then pushed aside his timidness and hugged her. He felt her wrap her arms around him. She needed this: she needed reassurance, comfort, and, during everything that had happened in that last five days, Reid learned, with slight difficulty, how to be that comfort for her.

"Everything is going to be alright."

"I know."

A sudden buzzing from Reid's trouser pocket broke apart the two and caught the attention of the driver, looking at the SSA through the rear-view mirror. Reid retrieved his phone and opened the text message, and sure enough, it was Hotch.

'_You're in the clear to depart. Be safe.'_

Spencer felt a sudden increase in heart rate; he knew this feeling. It was time, it was now or never. With a squeeze of Nessa's hand, he turned to meet the gaze of the driver. A swift nod and a quiet, "Let's go," Reid gave the exact directions that they would be taking. The driver nodded and they exited the parking garage in the dead of night.

Nessa never let go of the agent's hand. As they passed through the city's back roads and alleys, she just held on to him. She felt silly, of course, clinging on to Reid like that. But not once does she regret it. As they passed through a town about 15 minutes away from Ft. Belvoir, she began to feel uneasy. The agent next to her was quick to notice.

"You okay?"

"Not….not really. Something feels off. It's one of those feelings." She let go of his hand and began to go through her backpack.

"What are you looking for?" asked the eidetic genius.

She continued to rummage through her backpack. "My iPod, I need to listen to something to relax me." She had a look of disappointment as she found her device and, upon examination, threw it back into her backpack. "It's dead. I forgot to charge it." She gave a slight sigh.

Suddenly, a soft curious hum escaped her as she reached once again into the bag before closing it. "Um…do you mind if I….um…remember that time on the sofa-…."

Spencer blushed a bit but answered he shaky question with his own response, "….S-sure. I-I don't mind." He opened his arms wide as the jade-eyed girl gave a small smile as she unbuckled her seatbelt and laid against the genius' side. In turn, Reid moved slightly so that she rested more comfortable between his legs, her head resting over his heart, their hands linked. Safely wrapped in each other's presence, Nessa felt more at ease, so much so that she was able to nap for a few minutes, finally succumbing to her dreams and his offered safety.

It was nearly 30 minutes later that Nessa woke with Reid still holding her, keeping an eye out on the road as his hands ran up and down arm with a little uncertainty whether he was doing it right. She was about to sit up when she felt the forgotten envelope fall.

"Where are we?" she asked Reid , going through her backpack again for something to keep her mind occupied. As she searched, Nessa pulled out a envelope- one that wasn't in her box earlier that day, in fact she hadn't seen this before, and couldn't figure out how it ended up in her bag.

"Approximately 20 minutes from our destination. I got a text message from Hotch: The other's made it safely there."

"That's good," she leaned against Reid again, but her focus on the envelope. Nessa examined the paper again, her name written in Becky's handwriting on the front of it. Curiosity got the best of her and she opened it, finding a piece of folded paper that appeared to be a letter. Opening it fully, she let out a sharp gasp and threw the paper away from her as if it had burned her touch. Reid was a bit startled at her reaction. The driver caught the action as well and grew a bit worried.

"Sir, should I pull over?"

"No, keep going. We're almost there." Spencer reached over Nessa, who was more curled up against him and grabbed the paper. Hazel eyes widen, his heart began to race more the usual, and his mind was screaming. There in his hands, taped to the paper was a tarot card- The Devil, right side up. Next to the card in erratic hand writing: _I'm going to get you. Don't think you can outrun me =)_

Spencer was at a loss for words. Upon regaining his thinking ability, he reached for his phone and dialed for Hotch.

As the dial tone rang in his ear, Nessa just stared at the paper in the genius' hand. She felt on the egde of having a panic attack, her breathing was beginning to shallow, but she quickly regained control of herself, and just focused on Spencer's voice as he was finally answered by his Unit Chief.

"Hotch…we may have a problem….he sent another calling card…yeah the De-."

"WATCH OUT!" A shrill scream was heard as suddenly headlights appeared out of nowhere, racing towards the passenger side of the car. Nessa, in a split moment, heard Spencer drop his phone and pull her more towards him, using his body to shield her from the impact. The horrid sound of twisted metal, the cracking of glass, and the shatter. Nessa was vaguely aware of her screams or that of Spencer's cursing which turned into an agonizing scream. She felt herself being thrown from his grip and felt the glass shredding her arms and the twisting metal nearly trapping her. The motion of tumbling and turning and pain seemed to last ages, but soon, she landed on sharp glass, her head throbbing unlike she has ever felt. Her arms felt numb, she was disoriented, but she was alive. It look her a moment to realize what had happened- they had rolled over several times. She struggled to get up , her arms shaking under her. In the mangled mess of metal and glass, she caught slight of the driver at a distance, he was unmoving, his arm twisted in an un-natural angle, so were his legs. She looked around the wreckage and found the SSA among the metal about two yards away from her. Nessa tried to move her legs, but she found them much too heavy. She tried once more to lift herself up, but the arms gave out under the heaviness and pain that surged through her body. Turning her head sent sharp jolts through her body as she tried to call out to Reid.

"Spencer…" She rasped out her voice failing her a bit, tears clouding her line of sight. The pain was becoming too much. "Come on, Spencer. Can you hear me? Wake up." Nessa could vaguely make out the voice coming from the genius' phone in the distance.

"REID! REID ANSWER ME! ARE YOU OKAY? DAMMIT SPENCER. ANSWER ME! MORGAN AND I ARE ON THE WAY."

Reid's eyes fluttered at Nessa's calls. He let out a groan as he became aware of his soundings and the pain. As he came to, he moved his head to the face Nessa, who was only able to see rather large gash on his temple, which was bleeding heavily, as well as many other scratches and cuts that covered his body.

"You okay?" she rasped out once again, completely ignoring her own wounds.

He gave a stiff nod. "My shoulder," he rasped out, "I think it's dislocated. I can move it .I manage to turn my body so that we wouldn't receive much impact." She smiled at this; he was okay for the most part. Relief flooded through her as she caught sight of his eyes. "And you?"

"I'll live." The moment of relief was short lived when the two heard the distinct whistling of _Frère Jacques _coming closer. Neither of them could move at this point. Nessa caught boots come much closer in her field of vision. The boots suddenly stopped and moved between the two. The whistling fell to a low note when the UnSub took note of Reid, banged up, but still alive.

"Oh no," he mused, "This will not do." Then pain surged suddenly through Reid as the heavy boot made contact his ribs. A scream escaped him as he rolled a few more feet away from Nessa, his white button-up covered in shards of glass, medal and blood.. Happy with his work, he carefully scooped up Nessa, in his arms.

"No….stop…please…Spencer.." she called weakly. The UnSub sighed as he placed her on her feet, but quickly found that she could not stand; the pain of putting weight on her legs made her cry out. He held her against him and buried his nose in her now loose brown hair, holding her off the ground a bit, allowing her to use him as support.

"Don't worry, my beautiful little songbird." The dull glint of a gun appeared in front of him, trained on the agent on the floor. "The good agent won't bother you anymore."

Spencer started to move slowly, coming back to his senses. He turned to face Nessa and the Unsub, not so much looking at the gun but at Nessa. He was just about to say something, the form of a word on his lips when suddenly-BANG!

Nessa let out a blood shrilling cry at the sound, her vision was already starting to fade around the edges. The UnSub gave a small chuckle as he caught her again as she tried to race towards the agent, but failed due to the ever present pain and his death grip around her waist.

"No, no Darling. He won't stand in the way now." He scooped her up as she weakly fought against him, her eyes still trained on the genius' body among the glass and metal.

"Reid…Spencer…."

"He had to be put down Vanessa. He won't bother you anymore," he comforted as they walked around the wreckage to a truck, the same truck that had hit them, "It's just you and me now. We need to discuss things about your Daddy. I'm still very mad at him for locking me up and I have a bone to pick with him." He placed her gently in the back of his truck, making sure to use the utmost care by minding her injuries. "I wonder how he would react." He gave a dark chuckle at the thought. He looked down at her with crazed eyes, a large, thick hand smoothed out her hair. With a sickening, sadistic smile, he let his hands move along her body. "Now be a good girl and behave until we get home. Then we can_ really_ have some fun."

-x-X-x-

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><p><strong>Reviews?<strong>


	2. Something Special

**Disclaimer: Sadly I own nothing relating to Criminal Minds. CBS does though, but the OCs in this story are mine =p.**

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who has either read, alerted, fav, or even reviewed! It means a lot to hear from my readers! Here's the new and improved chapter 1.**

**All grammatical errors are mine…sorry about that…..**

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><p>Chapter 1: Something Special<p>

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><p><em>-Flashback-<em>

_November 10, 2006_

Morgan walked into the interrogation room, a rather thick folder grasped tightly in this right hand. Within the small and rather intimidating room sat their only chance at finally breaking a week long case: Zach Ceels, a teenage boy, about 17 or so, with short, messy hair and dark eyes in the middle of the room. The only problem- he refused to talk to anyone about what had happened.

The built FBI agent threw the large folder down on the table, the pictures of the victims spilling out for the teen to see. However, this didn't seem to faze him; he sat there slumped in the chair, expressionless.

"Look kid," started Morgan in a low voice, face hardened, "You were there when Sydney Kage was murdered," Morgan pushed the picture of the young woman's mangled and bloodied body towards his field of vision. "You were _THERE_. You know who did this; you saw the car this bastard drove. You can help us catch this guy. Just tell us what happened that night."

Zach looked at the picture of the girl and then looked away. He then turned his gaze to the built agent, leaning forward to meet his eyes. "I'm not telling you anything. Miranda rights, remember? I have the right to remain silent. The officer read them to me when he arrested me for some bogus charge. All cops are the same- they use extra-legal factors just to get people like me behind bars. That includes FBI, too."

Morgan's hard shell broke for a moment. "What do you mean by 'bogus charge'? They caught you trying to steal a car."

"Bunch of bullshit," Zach sneered. He continued, silent anger in his eyes, "My car alarm is faulty and the remote on the keychain doesn't work anymore. So sometimes when I open my car manually, the alarm goes off. I turn it off by hand- I put my key in the ignition and press the red button on the dash. Check if you want. Oh, and while you're at it, check whose name the car is under. It's mine. My boss, Charles Logan, co-signed and paid for the used car . Call him up, he'll tell you brought it for me as a birthday present." The teen slumped back into the chair, glaring daggers at the FBI agent.

"Kid…I believe you- I've been there. I know what's it's like to be on top of the cops' hate list," Morgan knew he had to get to the teen, not only for the sake of the case, but just to let him know that he wasn't the only one. "Look, Zach. I promise I'll get you free from that charge. We just need you to talk to-."

"Oh stop it," the teen seemed irriated and she stood from his chair and walked around the small room. He turned to Morgan. "Don't go and start making empty promises that you can't keep Agent Morgan. You can catch them on this one, but they'll just pull out another fake charge just to make sure I get jail time," the teen scoffed. "You've never been in my position; I can tell. You weren't raised a passenger."

"A what?"

"A passenger, Agent. If you don't know what that is then you don't know jack-shit about all the hell I'm involved in."

Morgan slammed his hands down on the steel table, the photos flying around them. He'd had enough, he had handled stubborn people before in the interrogation room, but for some reason, this kid was pushing the envelope. The clock was ticking and they needed Zach to break this case for them before their Unsub was set free and on the killing path once again. "Listen you little punk. A sick son-of a-bitch is about to go free in less than three hours unless we place him at the scene. I'm trying to help you in the process." Morgan's voice was low, but he spoke slowly despite his sudden, unknown burst of anger. He looked Ceels straight in the eyes, silently pleading with his own; this kid was damaged, he could see that, but this kid also had a few bad run ins with the law, thus his distrust in any law enforcement figure. Morgan was trying to make the teen see differently. "I can help you. But in order for me to do so, we need your account of that night. We need what we call a walkthrough to help you remember. Now are you going tell us or not?" Morgan said through clenched teeth, clearly running out of patience.

The teen leaned forward, bracing his hands against the metal table, meeting the agent's eyes; there was no fear, no worry. "All cops are the same. So , no." Morgan had caught something in the teen's eyes, almost like the slightest apology showing in his eyes.

Let out an aggravated breath through his nose, he stormed out of the interrogation room, leaving the kid there. He slammed the door behind him while running a hand over his head in irritation. He walked towards the Hotch and Prentiss who were watching the whole interrogation, along with the Police Chief of Waynesboro, Chief Robert Gates, who looked rather solemn.

"He's not going to talk Hotch, he's dead set on that. He's one stubborn kid."

The unit chief nodded in agreement. "He holds a lot of resentment towards law enforcement. Morgan call Garcia and check out his car story and his background ," the dark eyed agent turned to his left to face the police chief, "Have you been aware of Zach Ceels' record?"

The police chief, a man in his early 50s who sported slightly greying dark hair with a medium size build, answered the agent. "To be honest with you Agent Hotchner, not all that much. Before I became chief about 5 years ago, he already had a record according to a lot of the officers. Just causing trouble and mischief around town. I just never really thought about it. Personally, I've never seen the kid do anything bad. Yeah he doesn't hang out with the best of crowds, but my daughter tells me he's a good kid, good student, just has trouble with the law."

"Was there any similarities in the officers that brought him in? Or maybe those who did were from the same group?" questioned Prentiss to the chief.

The chief looked a bit thoughtful as he recalled all the times the teen had been in the station. "Now that you think about it, it was almost always either Jon Delyn or Dennis Rickman who was the arresting officer or who filed the report," he sighed to himself, "How come I never picked up on it…"

Morgan came back into the conversation, closing the phone with a 'Thanks Mama'. "His car story checks out, the co-signer for the car was Logan, but primary is Ceels, he got it on his 18th birthday.. But Garcia did find something interesting- He's a foster kid, been in and out of it since he was 3. The mother died of an overdose and his father was a former officer from here who turned bad-Roger Kimmit."

"Kimmit used to be part of Jon and Dennis' little gang. They were best friends before he went bad," added Chief Gates in a sad tone.

"Whatever happened to Kimmit?"

"When they found out that he was selling his badge, he panicked. When he was going to get arrested, he put the barrel to his head and shot, right in front of his wife and baby, so they say. His wife, afterwards, couldn't take the gossip and the looks. She overdosed on some pills and Jack."

Prentiss looked at the teen beyond the two-way glass, his head resting on his arms, "It makes sense on so many levels. Many believe that foster children are trouble-makers and unstable if they have had multiple families." The female agent turned to Chief Gates. "The officers had prejudice against him from the start just because he was the son of a bad cop. It all adds up to his distrust in any law enforcement. He won't talk because of it."

"So what do we do?" asked Morgan, leaning on his hands towards the two-way window. "The clock is ticking, even if he doesn't remember, he doesn't trust us enough to do a walkthrough." He turned towards Hotch, who currently looked deep in concentration, lines forming across his face.

"Is there anyone you'll think he'll willingly talk to?" Hotch's dark eyes found those of the Chief who looked thoughtful once again. A single name passed through his mind. It was worth a shot, he'd just had to ask Nora if-

"I have an idea, but you just have to trust me on this."

"And who might that be," as he followed the chief out of the viewing room to his office where he flipped through an old style rolodex, finding the card and pulling it free.

"Someone, you'll see. Now if you'll please excuse me, I have a call to make."

-x-X-x-

Nearly 20 minutes later, the BAU team was assembled in the conference room looking over any breakthroughs to put the spree killer, Daniel Mauro, behind federal bars. However, they couldn't find anything fully placing him at the last crime scene.

"Damn," sighed Morgan, tossing a file down, "This guy was good, he was nearly perfect, and he was neat about it, too."

"He was too neat," added Prentiss looking over a folder, "He was a perfectionist. His only drawback was the kid being there, but then again, if he doesn't remember, it goes in his favor."

Reid stood in front of the pinned up map, fingers following the trails marked by red and blue push pins. "It isn't common for witnesses to have selective memory about the event they witnessed. In fact, many believe that this is why many victims and witnesses fail to report crimes. That or they feel that the police are a threat."

"Both those reasons correspond with Zach Ceels," started JJ as she took a seat next to Prentiss, "I mean I wouldn't want to go to an officer if they had a vendetta against me for something my father did."

"Yes, that's true, but right now, we need his account of what he saw that night. He's not giving it up though." Hotch added as he hit a few keys on the laptop in front of him.

"Hate to say it, but its times like this we need Gideon to drop us some ideas," say Morgan, leaning back in his chair.

"Well, Gideon is going through a mandatory Psych Eval at the moment, meaning it's just up to us," said Hotch not looking up from the laptop screen. After a few seconds the familiar face of their vibrant tech analyst appeared on the screen. "Garcia."

"Your wish is my command, sir," she lifted up her fuzzy pink pen in a small salute.

"Has there been anything on the surveillance footage from the machine shop?"

"Sorry Super Friends. That's a negative. This sicko was very careful about how he placed his car. It looks like he must have studied the angles of the cameras were placed and where their blinds spots are."

"Mama," Morgan appeared in front of the screen, "Got anything new on our witness?"

"Why yes I do my glorious god of chocolate," she said with a smile, "He's been through over 40 families since the age of 5. Poor baby," she made a few keystrokes as she continued, "it says there that one of the main reasons he was moved so much was that a lot of the families say he wasn't all that social with other members of the family, as well as being unfit to be part of a family."

"Really?" asked Prentiss in shock, as she came up behind Morgan to see Garcia.

"Yeah, but usually, from this Goddess' experience knowing some foster kids from the underground; it's not the kid's fault. It takes a lot of time to adjust to something new, but they just never gave him the time. Besides, some foster families aren't all that great. I was snooping into a lot of the houses the System put him in and, my Wonder Friends, on a scale of one to ten, ten being the best, a big chuck of them score lower than three."

"I see," thought Hotch, "Thanks Garcia."

"No problem sir." Morgan then spoke to Garcia.

"Thanks Baby Girl. Call you later."

"Anytime Handsome," and with that the bubbly TA logged off. At that same moment, Chief Gates walked through into the room, giving a short greeting to the team.

"We looked for anymore possible witnesses, but that proved to turn up nothing. Looks like our hopes rest on Ceels." He gave a loud sigh and checked is watch. "We've got about a little more than two hour and a half to place Mauro at the scene."

"All we have to do is get him to talk and-," suddenly the door was thrown open by a deputy.

"Sir, they're here."

Gates perked up a bit, but then seemed to be a lot lighter, as if a weight was lifted from his shoulders. "Good, send them in," and with that the deputy left in a hurry back out the door. All eyes of the BAU were trained on the Chief. "If this doesn't work, then we don't have anything else," he said to the team, who looked at him with a bit of uncertainty.

The door opened to reveal a woman who appeared in her mid-thirties with her short black hair in a neat layered bob. She looked tired and worn out, possibly from a lack of sleep, but she seemed a bit relieved when she caught the chief's eyes.

"Robert," she sighed as she made her way to greet the chief with hug.

"Nora," he returned her hug, "Thank you for doing this, and I'm sorry about the urgency. I know you've got a better place to be."

"It's no problem, he fell asleep and Julia promised to text me if anything," she gave a small sigh. "But right now, I'm just hopeful that we can help out."

"Thank you Nora. All I can say that it's worth a shot," the chief then turned to the FBI profilers, "Agents, this is Miss Nora O'Neil," she nodded and gave a small wave to the agents.

Hotch stood up and shook the woman's hand, "Miss O'Neil. I'm Unit Chief SSA Aaron Hotchner," he then motioned to the other agents in the room, "This is my team- Agents Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan, Dr. Spencer Reid and our Media Liaison Jennifer Jareau. Thank you for coming to talking to our witness."

Nora smiled a bit. "Thank you Agent Hotchner but to be quite honest I'm not the person talking to your witness."

All eyes were on here and the room grew a bit tense. "Excuse me?"

"I'm here to maybe watch over the interview, if I'm permitted." All the agents looked shocked at the small confession and turned their attention to the chief.

"Then who's talking to Ceels?" asked Reid.

Nora smiled once again and answered for the chief, "My kids is going to be talking to your witness. They're both 18, but in this situation, they are still my kids and I just want to make sure nothing happens," she turned and address the chief, "Shall we begin Robert?" The chief nodded and with that, Nora left the room for a moment, leaving the agents staring at the police chief wanting some type of explanation.

"Just trust me agents."

Soon after, Nora returned with two older teens by her side, about the same age as their witness. The first was a boy, a bit taller than average height and was slightly built with a mess of light brown hair on his head and light brown, not yet hazel eyes finding the group of FBI agents. He seemed to have a slight air of confidence,that, given the chance could turn to arrogance in a heartbeat.

The girl that followed alongside the boy did not look timid, but curious in a sense. She nearly a head shorter than the boy; her hair fell gently in warm chocolate waves slightly passed her shoulders. There were two things that caught the team's attention when it came to the girl: her eyes, which were a brilliant shade of jade green, and secondly an air of familiarity for all of the agents. This feeling was especially strong for Reid. He felt something hit him, almost like an instinct, but he couldn't place it. It was almost as if he should know this girl for some unknown reason.

"Agents," started the Chief as he motioned to the teens, "this is Mark and Vanessa."

"So," started Mark with humor in this voice, "Where's the pain in the ass we gotta get to?" Vanessa, the other teen, delivered a hard elbow to his side, "Ow," he winced as he rubbed the spot and muttered a quiet "bitch" under his breath.

"Sorry, he's special," apologized Vanessa as she gave the other a glaring look out of the corner of her eye.

"Come on you two," Nora gently scolded. "Now, what's his background if you please?"

"Right," started Prentiss, still a bit weary of sharing info with two teens, "Zach Ceels. 18. He's a foster kid."

"Hmm," thought Mark as he shifted his gaze to the girl at his side, "He just got dropped off."

"How long has he been in the system?"

JJ watched as she began to tap her fingers against her side at a rapid place, but filed it away for later and answered ,"About 15 years."

"So he's been on it for a while," Mark turned Vanessa, "What do you think Nessa?"

"About?"

The boy pulled the girl by the arm and whispered in her ear. She listen, then turned and said something back with a shrug. She turned her attention from Mark the team. "How many homes has he been through?"

"Roughly over 40 which is an abnormally high number for any foster child but not unlikely considering how long he was in the system," stated Reid. "Thirty-three percent of foster children actually spend 1 to 11 months in care, while 24% spend 12 to 23 months. Actually about 7% of children in foster care spend more than five years in the system. About 20,000 age out of the system each year."

Nora seemed a bit shocked at first she listen to him rattle out statics, but gave him a kind smile that seemed only to belong to a mother, while Mark simply lifted an eyebrow, looking at the other agents as a way to ask, 'Is that normal?'. When Reid finished, he solely noticed green eyes and a smile, Nessa's smile, which held a bit of sadness and bitterness. I wasn't the fact that he just recited statistics as if they were on a piece of paper, it was just the information he was reciting. "You make it sound like those are great numbers," she said softy. The team noticed the change in the tone of her voice and also noticed Mark's expression grow dark.

Reid was quick to explain himself to the girl, fearing he had offended their help. "I-I didn't mean it like that. I hold no bias regarding the foster system, I was just-."

"No, it's okay. I understand," she reassured him, "I don't like some of those facts," she continued, "They tend ignore how much emotional and psychological trauma are left on those kids." She played a bit with the hairband around her wrist. "Anyways, from the sound of it, you're an eidetic , huh?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You have an eidetic memory," clarified Nora, smiling at the doctor. "You must be a genius, and my guess, graduated very young."

"Well," he hesitated a bit, caught off at how the woman was able to assume as much as she did. "Yeah, you can say that."

"Cool," Mark, who had lightened up a bit, added, "One of our friends is the somewhat the same, instead, her brain is like the ultimate music library. She can play any song she's ever heard, all by ear." He shook himself out of his thoughts, and smacked Nessa's arm gently, "You started this. Stop getting us off topic."

"Sorry, sorry," she said rubbing her arm, "One more thing," added Vanessa as she looked at the chief, "Does your witness have messy black hair, a bit shorter than his?" motioning to Mark's head.

"How did you know?" asked the Chief Gates, looking at the girl suspiciously.

"When we were sitting outside the room just now, one of the officers was taking him back to the room, I'm guessing, after he when to the restroom," jade eyes then found Mark's. "He's got a collection."

"Really now?"

"Yeah," the girl paused for a moment, looking thoughtful as she pulled her hair up into a ponytail. "I'll do it."

"Are you sure, Nessa?"

"Yeah, he'll trust me to a point I hope," she faced the agents again, "Is there anything that you need me to do when I'm in there?"

"Are you sure you want to go in there, Kid?" asked Morgan, standing up, not really liking the idea of sending in a 18 year old girl to talk to their witness.

"Yeah, just give me a chance to talk to him. I think I can get him to open up a bit."

"If you can manage that," added Hotch, "We need him to go through a cognitive interview to help him try to remember what he saw."

"Okay. When can we start? I understand the clock is ticking for you guys."

"Yeah, will you come with me?" asked JJ as she stood and escorted the girl to another room for a moment.

"Are you sure you're alright with this Miss O'Neil?" asked Hotch as he came to her side while Mark was on the opposite. She gave a wordless nod, the profile could tell was somewhat on edge. The woman looked in the direction where the blonde liaison lead her daughter to a separate room.

"Nessa knows what she's doing Agent Hotchner."

-x-X-x-

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><p><strong>The next chapter will be a continuation of the flashback and then all hell starts to breaks loose….<strong>

**Reviews anyone?**


	3. Of Stamps, Passports, and Trust

**Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Criminal Minds, I do own my OCs though.**

**I got this chapter done much quicker than I thought ^^. This is the continuation of the flashback and then the next chapter will be a 2 year jump into the present. I hope you all enjoy! All grammatical errors are mine.**

**A/N: Trigger Warnings for Past Child Abuse and Cutting.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Of Stamps, Passports, and Trust<strong>

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><p>-x-X-x-<p>

"_They didn't do anything. Nana please!" a sound of a belt meeting skin rang throughout the small room along with the cries of the three children in the room. _

"_Nana hit me, not them," another agonizing shout of pain, but she held on tighter to the two children that shrunk deeper into her protective embrace._

"_Nana! Nana please!" cried the younger girl, holding on to the elder's dress, crying at the pain being delivered to her protector._

_Smack._

"_Nana! We'll be good! It's raining, stop hurting her," sobbed the young boy._

_The elder girl began to collapse, growing numb with the stinging on her back that she was sure were welts._

"_Wretched children, nothing but sinners and demons," hissed the wielder of the belt, and with renewed vigor, placed a hit on the elder girl's neck, which made her cry out in pain. _

_Suddenly, the assault was stopped and muffled voices were heard, the elder was afraid to look back, but she knew she was out of the woods when she saw Mrs. Conner, the kind wife Mr. Conner, the neighbor, drenched from head to toe, kneeling down besides the girl, disbelief and utter sadness in her eyes. In a hurry she tried to pick up the three children, but the oldest pushed the two youngest to her, asking her to take them first. Behind her, the girl heard the strong voice of Mr. Conner, holding back the crazed LeAnn in a bear type grip, trying to talk some sense, she guessed to the woman._

"_No, no Miss LeAnn! What are you thinking?"_

_She cried in hysteria, her madness finally taking over. "Damnit! You're letting the sinners escape! They need to be cleaned! Purified of the sins! Let me go!"_

"_They are clean Miss LeAnna. Clean as angles!," The girl finally turned around, seeing the older man was restraining the woman in a death grip, the belt, now half way across the yard. The man found his wife, hugging the two children close to her, the both of them crying their hearts out. "Get the children in the truck Viviane!" _

_The woman did as she was told securing the children in seat, then braving the rain to get to the oldest girl, who was hugging herself, the once white sundress was now stained red from the back. "George! Honey, come on!" She reached the girl and pulled her to herself, running with her to the truck. "Oh dear Heavenly Father, Nessa you're bleeding! Oh darling!"_

_"Get them all to the truck Vivi and drive them home! I gotta find Mr. Bay. She's lost her mind! " That was the last thing Nessa heard as she was ushered into the truck. Everything was numb, everything hurt so badly. The darkness finally came for her, but did release its grasp until a few hours later. Nessa found herself in a warm bed, and in a new simple sundress, her back covered in gauze. Next to her on the large bed was the young boy, Tyler, and the younger girl, Laura, both in warm clothes and both shaken to the core and forever scarred._

_Nessa, who was 8, sat up, her back burning, but she didn't seem to care. The little girl crawled across the bed to Nessa's lap. Laura is only 5. Tyler, who was six, was laying on his back. He reached over and grabbed her hand and held on to it for dear life, not wanting to let go. Nessa grasped it back and brought her other arm to wrap around the young girl. There were no words exchanged, there was no need. They held onto each other until the door opened, relieving Mrs. Conner along with Mr. Bay, the town's home-visit doctor. He took in the sight of the children, broken and beaten, and let out a sigh, his eyes, full of pity, sympathy and sadness finding those of jade eyes of Nessa. For some reason, the pity made Nessa want to curl up and hide, never to be seen again, but she knew it would not happen. Feeling her tears begin to fall, she turned away from the eyes of the doctor and buried her face in Laura's hair and just cried. _

_She never wanted this. She never wanted this life._

-x-X-x-

"-Neil. Miss O'Neil?" Nessa was brought out of the past and into the now, looking into the startled face of the media liaison. "Are you alright?" JJ's eyes were focused on the 18 year olds lap where were fingers and hands began to move slightly and tap at a rapid pace in a way that sort of resembled the playing of a piano. The jade eyed teen also seemed completely lost in her own thoughts

"Oh, sorry, I tend to space. Yeah, I'm fine thanks. And feel free to call me Nessa, everyone does," she said with a smile, playing with the hem of her dress.

"Nessa." JJ smiled at the teen. "Do you play?"

Nessa smiled back, pushing a lock of warm brown hair behind her ear. "A little, my friend Charlotte plays piano our choir. We often joke with her, but she teaches us if we just want to learn. I guess over the years, piano became a stress reliever," she replied. Bringing her hands together on her lap, she looked over to the blonde liaison. "I think I'm ready Ms. Jareau."

"Are you sure you want to do this. No one will thank any different if you back out now?"

"I'm sure," Nessa stood up from her chair, her demeanor changing slightly as a thoughtful smile gracing her face. "We both have a collection and a passport, so he'll more than likely open up to a fellow passenger."

"I'm sorry?" JJ stared at the brown haired teen with confusion and curiosity, stumped by her choice of words.

"Sorry about the lingo," she gave a sheepish smile as brought her cardigan closer around her, "People like us tend to let it slip every once and a while. Bad habit." She stood and began to finger the hairband around her wrist.

JJ eyed the teen suspiciously. "Okay," she turned and gathered some things from the desk before leading the girl down a small hall way. Nessa followed, her fingers tapping at her side, her mind somewhere else.

"If you feel like you're in danger or if you want out," said JJ as they got to the door to the interview room, "Just use the signal and one us will be here in a heartbeat."

"A tug on the earlobe, right?" Nessa did just that as she walked along JJ.

"You got it," JJ smiled at the 18 year old.

"Okay," Nessa began to feel her heart race and her palms begin to sweat as they approached the door to the interrogation room. The pair passed the other BAU agents as well as Nora and Mark, Nora giving her a nod of confidence. "You can do this, Sweetheart." Mark gave her a cocky smile and a thumbs up, as if it were the most carefree thing in the world.

Nessa smiled back at the two and nodded to the other agents and Chief Gates before turning once again to JJ, signaling for her to open the door. "Lord be with me," she said to herself under her breath, her nerves still playing with her. She smoothed out her sundress before walking past the threshold.

The boy at the table looked up from his folded arms to see the girl walk in calmly, looking him straight in the eye. He let out a mocking huff through this nose as the girl took the seat in front of him.

"Really? They think they could get to me to remember by using you and your powers of seduction?" Ceels gave a small laugh. "What's up with the FBI these days."

"First of all," started Nessa, smoothing out her dress over her lap, "I'm not FBI. I go to Waynesboro East High. Second of all, don't kid yourself, hon, I'm not here to seduce you, I just want to chat with you," she gave him a genuine smile.

"Yeah, and the Tooth Fairy is my aunt." The two teens in the room stayed silent and just stared at each other for several minutes, wanting to see who would crack first. The federal agents, Chief Gates, Nora O'Neil, and Mark watched from the other side of the two way glass as the two just locked eyes in silence.

During the viewing, Nora O'Neil's phone gave off a muffled buzz from her pocket. Pulling it out, she read the text that she just received. Mark looked over her shoulder and read it as well.

"You should go Mom," said Mark softly as several eyes fell on the woman.

Nora shook her head. "No, It's fine. The Julie is with him," tucking her phone back into her pocket. The agents could tell she was worried about something other than her daughter beyond the glass.

The shaggy haired teen let out a sigh. "Mom, Nessa can handle this, I'll be here. You need to be with him. You know how Lil Bo-Bo gets," he wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind her in a comforting hug, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Nora," started Chief Gates, "If it's about your little one, it's better if you go. Nessa is a big girl, she can handle herself, Beau on the other hand is 4, and he needs his mom. I'll have the kids be dropped off as soon as this is done."

"Are you sure," asked Nora, giving a hopeful but weary look not only at the chief but at the agents.

"Mrs. O'Neil, if you have something else to attend to, you're more than welcomed to go. You already signed the papers necessary for this interview to take place as precaution," said Morgan to the woman. She nodded and was escorted out of the room by her son, who came back inside a few short seconds later.

"She said I should stay for Nessa," he said, never taking his eyes off the glass. Everyone turned their attention back to the two beyond the glass, who simply sat there still staring each other down. Zach Ceels with a scowl, Nessa with a small smile.

Finally a few more minutes of silence, Nessa leaned back in her chair, he gaze remaining on Zach, looking at him as if he was some sort of friend.

"Hi there."

"So what exactly is the point of you being here?" asked Zach in a frustrated tone, his gaze becoming harsher. "Please, what can a little princess like you have to _chat_ about with me? Come on, look at you," he gestured to her, his temper beginning to rise, "I bet mommy and daddy give you everything you ever wanted. That dress probably cost more than my monthly rent-"

"Actually, my mom died from leukemia when I was 6 and I don't remember much of the man who is supposed to be my father," she started, looking at her nails, "he walked out on my mom and I when I was 4 or 5. And as for my clothes," she fingered the hem of her dress, "I got the dress off the rack of a vintage store for about five bucks. Not a bad buy if you ask me. The cardigan is a hand-me-down from my foster sister." She looked up to see Zach's face, only to see a bit of shock and confusion. Nessa just continued to smile. The federal agents looked puzzled at the first statement Nessa made. Yes, it was odd that there was no sign or mention of a father, Nora was alive and well. Some of the agents glanced at Mark out of the corner of their eye, to see him give a small smile of sorts, which only served to throw them off a bit.

"Let me introduce myself properly," said the girl softly to the slightly confused boy in front of her. "My name is Vanessa Rose Thomas. Feel free to call me Nessa."

"Why is she lying about her last name?" said JJ out loud, more to herself.

" 'Cause she's not." All eyes turned to Mark, who still had the small smile on his face. "Just listen."

"Zach," started Nessa looking him in the eyes with gentleness, "I'm a passenger too." He looked weary of the girl, wondering what she was up to. Her eyes moved to his arms, covered by the sleeves of his maroon button down shirt. He followed Nessa's gaze to his sleeve cover arms. Ceels looked back at her buring his arms further into themselves in an attempt to hide them.

"I'll show you mine, if you show me yours." Zach looked skeptical for a moment and them nodded to the girl. Nessa took off her cardigan and pushed down the small straps of her dress, showing off her shoulders. Both shoulders held a total of about 15 small red lines that ran in every which way. On her upper left arm, a rather large raised scar, flesh pink but healed over, ran about 4 inches long. She stood from her chair and turned around and showed Zach her back. Ness pulled the smocked fabric of the dress down a bit to show scares, about 6 held over welts varying in direction and size, all scattered among the expanse of her upper back. There was another raised scar on neck on the right side that was a good 3 inches fading at the ends, the others that littered pale skin were no longer than an inch. There were also white lines mixing with the pink on her back, scared that were healed and nearly faded. She grabbed the chair that she sat on and dragged it to be in Zach's line of vision on one of the sides of the table facing the two way mirror. She sat on the table, he Converse clad feet resting on the chair. "Here," she said point to a spot on her ankle on her left foot, "and here," repeating the action to the right foot. She moved off the table back to her side dragging the chair with her. "I've also go some here," pointing towards her right hip, "and here," rubbing the area down from her armpit on her left side. "Girls are a bit more cautious on where we place them," she smiled at the boy who looked at her with a new light, something the profiler's noticed in his eyes. Trust.

After getting over the initial shock of seeing the teen covered in scars, the team looked over to Mark, who had taken rolled up his sleeves rubbing a rather large raised scar at the base of his left wrist, which was hidden by a leather cuff. "I think it's best if you pay attention," said Mark point towards the window.

The teen behind the glass gave a sigh as he unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them up to his elbows, showing off large, raised, jagged scars that covered his forearms all around. His arm was covered in them, barely any normal skin left to the visible eye.

"When were you put on the train?" asked Zach, all attitude gone, and curiosity peeking a bit.

"When I was about 7 , by the time I was 10 my passport was getting _really_ full." she said calmly.

"Kellogs?" asked Zack looking up a sad smile.

"Yeah. Johnsons, McKibbeans, Hudsons, and Miss LeAnne…just to name a few."

"'Miss LeAnne make you all pray-"

"On our knees in raw rice? Yeah," Nessa face turned dark, forgetting that people were watching on the other side. "She did a few Hail Mary's with me and two others, just because of little things. It's how I got the collection on my back."

"Oh…," Zach looked down at his hands. "Switch branch?"

"Belt." Zach nodded slowly.

"What was it…..'Hail Mary full of grace, the lord is with thee, baptize these demons-"

"With your saving grace and blessed is thy light. Purify their soul and sinful blood with your motherly grace. Amen." Both said in unison, looking bother tormented and broken, not like the how they were before, stubborn and confident.

"I think I believed in God the moment the system took me out of here," said Zach leaning back in his chair.

"No, it was when they arrested her and locker her up a few months after I left that station that I heard angels sing," Nessa laughed softly.

"Heh…there are such things are mircles," scoffed Zach. "You were dropped off?"

"No, a station, actually the one right after Miss LeAnne's, took me in when the conductors were about to put me back on the train. She took in some other passenger's as well."

Zach gave a sad smile, "You found a home?" The girl nodded, "What's it like."

"The station can get pretty hectic at times with how many passengers reside there, but ," she stopped a bit looking at the table with a thoughtful smile. "She's amazing. Nora has so much patience, it's insane. She takes care of five of us, two teenagers about to fly the nest, an 11, 7, 4 year old. It used to be six of us but my oldest foster sister is about to graduate from UCLA and is settling down there. Nora also works as a part-time midwife and a full time mom/referee for us," she laughed softly, but it died down as she got serious, "I used to think the world was out to get me, hell, I went through 14 homes in almost 17 months. But when I found Nora, and I saw what kind of person she is….i don't know, my outlook changed dramatically. It made me see that through all the dirt, the grime, and the shit that we as passengers go through, there is light."

The teen gave a shrug, "That's what you say."

"No I mean it. Listen," she started gently, "I was in the abusive homes, and I would say to myself that if I ever get out of the system, I wasn't going to be like these people. I'm going to love my kids, and tell them that every day. I told myself that I was going to make something of myself and help people. Yeah, it still haunts me every night to remember all the times I was beaten, whipped, degraded and passed along the next family like an unwanted piece of furniture. Hell, I woke up crying for four months in a row, praying and scared that I was going to wake up and still be with Miss LeAnne, or the McKibbeans, and lone, but I wasn't because Nora was by my bedside in a heartbeat or my older foster sister was sing to be to calm down. It took me almost two years to call Nora 'Mom' or for me to acknowledge my foster siblings as my family because I didn't trust anyone, because I was so scared that the moment I trusted them, they would hurt me." For a moment, jade eyes began to water, tears threatened to fall but they didn't. She spoke softy to the other at the opposite end of the table. "I know it's hard to put some trust in complete strangers, but, Zach, you can't give up and just block out the world and believe that there is no such things as trust. You've trusted me enough to show me your stamps. Why don't you just trust the FBI, just this once to help save someone, they aren't here to hurt, only to help. Even I can see that.."

He looked at her fully in the eyes, unsure if what she said was true. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because trust is the first thing the system takes away from us and is the first thing we need to learn to get back into the real world. Once you learn to trust people again, you rebuild yourself, and find your place in this world, or what you want to do with your life.. All it takes is one small act of trust, but you need to trust yourself first to put your trust in the right place. Nora taught me that, Zach, if you want a new life outside the system, the first big baby step is to trust yourself to trust others." It was hard to believe that an 18 year old girl was talking so maturely, and just as powerfully. The profilers were in shock and awe at her grace and her strength in general, not just to go into a room with a volatile witness but to open up her past, despite how traumatic it was Nessa put her arms on the table, leaning forwards. "This could be the first step to the rest of your life. All it takes is a little trust. What do you say?"

He let out a sigh as Nessa leaned back in her chair, hopeful of his answer, hopeful that she made some sort of impact on him. He looked at the two way mirror to his left and let out another long breath of air. "Alright ."

"You'll let them help?"

He gave her a small smirk, then a nod. "Let's get this over with."

-x-X-x-

Morgan came out with both Ceels and Nessa, Zach with his sleeves down and Nessa with her cardigan back on, as the saw one of the deputies take a handcuffed Daniel Mauro into a secured jail cell. Through the cognitive interview, Zach had been able to place Mauro there at the scene, and had agreed to testify in court if needed. When it came to interviewing Mauro on the new evidence found, he let a small detail slip, which consequently named him as the unsub.

Mark had greeted Nessa with a hug, and introduced himself to Zach. "Mark Siegel. Nessa's foster brother." The teens chatted a bit, before the remaining profilers met up with them.

"Thank you, to all of you, we could not have done this without you," said Hotch as he shook hands with the three teens.

"He would've gotten away with it if you hadn't talked to Zach," said Prentiss to Nessa.

"Passengers are always there to cover each other, we just need to find one another," said Nessa, nudging Zach's side a bit.

Morgan turned to Zach, "I got them to drop the charges put against you, as well as any other bogus charge they had on your file. You're cleared, man."

Zach shook Morgan's hand, "Thanks Agent. Really, thank you."

"I've been down the same road, I know what it's like," he nodded towards the teen.

"So, you're record's clear, you got your car back, what's next?" asked Nessa.

"Probably put in a two week's notice at work and start looking for a community college in Charlottesville," shrugged Ceels with a small bit of a smile.

Mark found a random piece of paper and pen and scribbled on it before handing it to Zach. "If you ever need to talk or just catch up, mine's the second number and Nessa's the first. Don't hesitate to text us up for anything, man," the other teen said, giving Zach a handshake, Nessa doing the same.

"Sound's good," he said as he turned to leave the station, before reaching the doors, he gave a small wave to the group without turning around.

"So," started JJ gently, "foster kids."

Mark smiled a bit, "Yeah, I was taken in by Nora when I was 9. Nessa came into the chaos about 8 months later."

"And the 'stamps'?" asked Prentiss softly, wondering if it was an appropriate question to ask.

"Not every foster kid has them, but it just became a way to relieve the pain in a way, especially in the worst of times," added Nessa softly. "As stupid as it is, they _were_ stamps, or souvenirs of sorts of all the things we went through."

Nessa's silence was a cue for them not to press any further. Mark looked at some of the questioning looks on the profiler's face. "Yes, Nora knows, and we stopped and we have no reason to do it anymore, and looking back now, it was pretty silly of us to even do it.." This response was enough for the profilers as Chief Gates came to the group and gave his final thanks to the profilers and the teens.

"Tell Nora thanks and tell her I hope Beau get better real soon okay?" Nessa and Mark nodded, and watched as Chief Gates left to take care of paper work. "Oh," started Gates as he turned around, "Agents, do you mind giving the kids a ride?"

"Not at all, Ms. O'Neil has to fill out some post interview paperwork anyways, for court purposes," said Hotch to the then turned to his team."Let's pack everything up," and they headed back towards the room, Mark following behind the team, offering his help.

Nessa stayed back, thinking about the interview. She was brought out of her stupor when she heard a concerned voice.

"Miss Thomas are you alright?" Nessa turned to see Dr. Reid worried about her current state.

"Dr. Reid," she sighed, calming her racing heart. "Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking."

"Would you, uh," he stumbled for a moment, "like to talk about it?" They both sat on a pair of plastic chairs, Reid passing her a bottle water.

"Do you think he'll be okay?"

"If you're referring to Zach Ceels, then I believe so," started out the 25 year old genius, "When you talked to him, one could see a new sense of direction that seemed nearly impossible before. You gave him new hope, but only time will tell in the long run. Studies have found that by the age of 24, 60% of males that were in the foster system were convicted of a crime. Hopefully, Zach will fall into the 40%."

"Same here," said Nessa. They continued to talk for some time, the nagging feeling in the back of Reid's head telling him that he should know the girl never left, but something else that he couldn't figure out was growing. They continued to talk casually. Reid had found out that the teen as a performer- a choir member and a soloist, as well as ranked among the top of her class and involved in many clubs. He also learned that she wanted to attend Webster University in DC and become a physical therapist. Hotch sometime later had announced that they would be leaving and heading home as soon as they dropped of the teens. As Nessa left to retrieve her backpack, he could help but wonder why he found her so engaging, but he quickly pushed those thoughts away as he caught up with Morgan before heading to the SUVs.

"So where to?" asked JJ as they got into one of the black SUVs.

"The Children's Hospital would be fine," said Nessa, throwing her backpack to the trunk area of the SUV. "Our little hellion of a baby brother had surgery this morning, that's why Mom couldn't stay," finished Mark, "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, just tell us how to get there."

-x-X-x-

The group of profilers walked through the sterile halls of the hospital with the two teens leading the way. They reached a rather large door that read "CALL TO BE LET IN: CHILDREN'S CARE UNIT". Nessa picked up the phone that hung on the wall before the entrance and held it to her ear, waiting for the door to open. When it opened, the white walls turned into walls of brightly colored animals and jungle forests. The group walked through the doors, crossing the threshold into the Children's Unit. Mark muttered a quiet thank you to the nurse at the front desk, who simply nodded. They continued walking until they arrived at the second to the last door on the left. On the door, a monkey colored with scribbles by a four year old. The name on the monkey read Beau O'Neil.

"You all can come in," said Nessa as she opened the door. They walked in passed the small hall that held the bathroom, to see a another teenage girl with brown eyes and long light brown-blonde hair sitting on the hospital bed with a small dirty blonde 4 year old child in a hospital gown, wires coming out every which way connecting him to various monitors in the room. Both the teen and child were watching TV, but both turned at the opened door.

"Hey Monkey," started Mark softly, "How you doing?" He walked over to the little boy, a weak smile on his lips as Mark gently hugged the boy. Nessa then made her way over to the bed.

"Hey Honey. You okay?" the little boy turned to the other girl on the bed.

"Charlie? Nessa sit here?" he asked weakly.

"Sure baby," the girls switched spots, Nessa on the bed, and the other girl, Charlie, sat on the arm of the armchair in the corner of the room with Mark. As soon as Nessa got comfy, the little boy curled up next to her, a hand petting his hair. The little boy, Beau, reached for Nessa's hand and put it near the back of his head where the oxygen tube was.

Nessa smiled sadly at Beau. "Baby, you know I can't do that. Not until you get better." The little boy gave a pout but that soon faded as he drifted to sleep. Nessa had to stop herself from sheading her tears. "I hate seeing him like this," said out loud.

"I know what you mean," said the other girl, as she fiddled with a ringlet of baby pink hair. "He's not the little terror we all know and love," she smiled a bit before continuing, "Nora said he colored a lot today and I came over since my last block was a free period, we completed a puzzle and watched TV. Becky wanted me to sneak her out but, she had AP Euro with Christiansen"

"That's right," sighed Ness, making a face, "Christiansen is going to kill me for missing out today. I'll make it up to her," she ran her fingers through eh toddlers' hair. "I'll stop by her class before first bell, let her torture me a bit."

"I'm sure this one will be back to his horrible four year old self, causing chaos and destruction," smiled Mark, watching the little boy sleep. "Where's Mom, Charlie?"

The teen tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "She went to go pick up Nathan and Camille from school. I offered to stay with him until she got back or until you two got here. Becky says she'll try to visit after dance practice."

"Oh!," Mark smacked himself on the head, "We'll don't I feel like an ass. BAU agents, this is Charlotte LaCorra, our musical library. Charlie, these are the agents that we help."

"It's nice to meet all of you," she said, but before Hotch could response, two children, pushed their way past the agents to the bed where Nessa and the toddler were currently in.

The boy, who was older than the young girl at his side had muddy brown hair and dark brown eyes. The boy scolded the younger girl gently. "Camille!" he said in a hushed voice, "It's rude to push pass people without saying 'Excuse me'."

"I'm sorry, but I wanted to see Beau really, really badly!" Camille, the younger girl had jet black hair that was put into a French braid, a purple and green backpack was still on.

Nora came into the room, surprised to see the agents "Agents! I hope the interview went well?" she asked softly, hoping she wouldn't wake the exhausted four year-old. "Camille, Nathan, please keep it down and don't turn the TV up any louder, Beau is taking a nap." The children nodded as Camille, who was 7, ran to Mark and eagerly began telling him about her day at school, while Nathan, 11, stood by Nessa, who asked him about anything interesting her learned in science today.

"Yes ma'am. We got out guy thank to your kids," said Morgan, who couldn't help but smile as she saw the interactions between the O'Neil kids.

"I'm glad they could be of help, and I'm sorry I had to leave," she looked at the little boy curled against Nessa. "Beau had surgery yesterday and I was just worried about the stitches on his stomach and the pain."

"It's no problem ma'am," started Hotch, "I have a little one of my own around the age of your son. Well, we should be heading off," Nessa began to edge out of the bed, careful not to bother the sleeping child. Nathan, took her place as the human pillow for the dirty blonde boy. She and Mark headed to the group and shook hands with them once again, thanking them for their help. When the team left the room, it was Reid who had remembered about the form that Ms. O'Neil had to sign.

"I'll meet you all outside," and with that Reid, walked back to the room, in which Camille had asked if Nessa could redo her braid and if Ana would be video chatting with them tonight. After giving an apology to the family and presenting Nora with the paperwork, he got the signature and began to leave when Nessa had offered to walk to the lobby with him. Both walked side by side when they reached the elevator. "I hope your little brother gets better."

"Thank you," Nessa smiled, "There was something wrong with is large intestine, so they had to perform surgery." They reached to lobby floor, and both got off. Reid waved goodbye, but then stopped and turned before Nessa got on the elevator.

"Um…Nessa? Do you mind if, uh, if I could give you my email address? I use it that often but maybe we could keep in touch, if you ever need help or advice when getting into Webster, I know someone who works there." Nessa seemed shocked at first but quickly smiled. "That sounds great." Reid handed her one of his cards.

"Feel free to message me any time."

"Thank you Dr. Reid."

"Spencer," Nessa looked at him with her jade eyes in question, "You can call me Spencer."

Another genuine smile graced her lips, "Spencer," she repeated, "I'll write to you soon. Have a safe trip back home."

"Thanks," and with that head out the lobby towards to the two waiting SUVs.

"What took so long pretty boy?" asked Morgan as he got into the SUV, "Cute nurse?"

"Just drive Morgan."

-x-X-x-

When Reid got back to his apartment, he placed his to go bag and messenger bag in the corner and went to his small kitchen, throwing the case file on the counter before turning on his coffee pot. An unfamiliar white envelope had fallen from the file on to the counter. Curiosity won him over as he opened the letter and unfolded the paper revealing only a single sentence containing five words and two words below it. What also caught his eye was a long rectangular card of sorts with a brightly colored back that was also in the envelope. _A tarot card?_ He thought as he read the bottom of the card- The Tower. He then looked at that sheet of paper.

_Thank you for finding her._

_Unexpected Events_

_-Tarot_

_-x-X-x-_

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><p><strong>Reviews make me a happy authoress =)<strong>

**I'll try and have the next chapter done by next Friday!**


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